New UAB study suggests high fat may be better for breakfast

April 2, 2010 at 5:31 PM CDT - Updated June 19 at 4:46 PM

BIRMINGHAM, AL (WBRC) – A new study done at UAB may show that high fat is the way to go for breakfast.

In the March 30th study, researchers found that a high fat breakfast may be the best way to prevent metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome is characterized by abdominal obesity, high triglycerides, insulin resistance and other cardiovascular disease-risk factors.

Researchers examined the influence of different types of food and the timing of intake in mice. The researched showed that mice who ate a higher fat content meal after waking had normal metabolic profiles. Mice who ate more carbohydrate-rich foods and ate a higher fat meal at the end of the day saw several characteristics of metabolic syndrome appear.

"Studies have looked at the type and quantity of food intake, but nobody has undertaken the question of whether the timing of what you eat and when you eat it influences body weight, even though we know sleep and altered circadian rhythms influence body weight," said the study's lead author Molly Bray, Ph.D., professor of epidemiology in the UAB School of Public Health.

Bray says that they have yet to discover how the different types of intakes affect the heart.